January 2001 news and reviews

Sharp
Japan have today announced one CF Type I Bluetooth card and two other
Bluetooth modules which could be used internally within a device. This
extends the hope that we'll soon see the widespread use of Bluetooth wireless
communication in digital devices such as digital cameras, PDA's, communications
and input devices.

David
over at Imaging Resource has just posted his review of Casio's QV-2300UX,
here's what he concluded, "Overall, shooting with the Casio QV-2300UX
Plus was a real pleasure.... a 2.1 megapixel with swivel zoom lens, good
exposure controls and picture quality, a raft of preprogrammed "scene"
modes, and an included MicroDrive. Overall a very nice package!"

Thanks
to forums poster Antonio Lagana we now have some more details of the fix.
Heres what he said, "I just talked to a Canon service center here
in Japan and here's some additional information concerning this fix...."

Nikon
USA have launched their updated website, now wearing a shiny silver livery
and split into logical sections the new site helps to solidify the look
and feel of the other Nikon sites NikonNet, MicroscopyU, NikonMall and
NikonSchool. The new site design is cleaner and easier to navigate and
makes use of lots of dynamic content (which is only compatible with newer
browsers).

Steve
over at Steves-Digicams has posted his review of Casio's QV-3EX. Steve had
this to say "The QV3EX is a total package; 3.3-megapixel camera, rechargeable
battery, AC power supply and one of the highest capacity mobile storage
devices available today.... If you need a zoom lens or a camera with more
manual features then look at one of the other 3mpixel cameras."

Well
in Japan anyway. It looks as though Canon have a fix for the EOS-D30 "Auto
Power Off" problem that has been affecting some users. They have
issued a list of service centers that users can return their cameras to,
so it may not be too long before it makes it's way to the US and Europe.

Over
on Fujifilm's FinePix.Com (Japanese) website is a teaser for the new Finepix
digital camera which we expect to be announced at PMA, it's obviously a
replacement for the 4700Z (by its silhouette) and so far we've managed to
make out that it uses "2nd generation SuperCCD" and has a docking
station. Otherwise there's very little else to go on.

Steve
over at Steves-Digicams has posted his first look at the Olympus C-2040.
Here's what he says about it (so far): "Olympus has cranked out yet
another excellent camera. This is an updated C-2020 zoom with the new
large-aperture F1.8 lens that improves low-light pictures and exends indoor
flash range... Nice to see that everyone is not abandoning the two megapixel
cameras but actually improving them."

Samsung
has developed the world's smallest 512Mb flash memory by shrinking the die
down to 0.15 micron, from 0.18 micron just 6 months ago, Samsung have developed
the first 512Mb flash memory, and when stacked as a dual-die device they
will break the 1Gb barrier. Because of a breakthrough in the design process,
this also paves the way for a further reduction to 0.12 micron design. Thanks
to reader Gary Lee for the tip off on this piece of news.

Steve
over at Steves-Digicams has posted a first look at the Canon Pro90 IS. Here's
what he says about it (so far): "I've only been using it for couple
of days so we're a couple of weeks away from a full user review but for
the time being I have posted our Canon Pro90 IS First Look report along
with a starter set of sample photos. Initial impressions - love that big
lens and the battery pack is just wonderful! I like the Olympus C-2100 but
its SmartMedia limitations really makes me appreciate the Pro90's compatibility
with the high-capacity CF Type II cards and Microdrives..."

Canon
have just posted updated TWAIN drivers, for both serial and USB connections
plus a mac photoshop plugin, for a number of their cameras including the
S10, S20, S100 (IXUS/ELPH), G1, Pro90 IS and EOS-D30. They are dated 1/18/2001
and are version 3.5.

The
monthly Japanese "Digital Camera Magazine" have published their
current issue page with sample images which correspond to reviews / articles
in their magazine, always a good source of sample images from recent cameras.
This month (magazine dated Feb 2001) they have samples from several new
cameras including the Fujifilm Finepix 2500Z, Casio QV-2300UX, Pentax
EI-200 and Minolta Dimage 2330 Zoom.

Thanks
to our affiliation with Imaging Spectrum for professional digital photography
equipment we can bring you the ability to buy the new Kodak Pro Bundles
(which include unique software and the Kodak RFS 8660 Thermal Printer)
online AND support this site in the process. The new Kodak Pro bundles
offer excellent value for money as a "full kit", all you'd need
to get going and get results from a DCS digital SLR.

David
over at Imaging Resource has just posted his review of Olympus's E-100RS,
here's what he concluded, "WOW! This camera is a speed demon!...
As digicams mature, we expect to see more models appearing that are custom-tailored
for specific application areas. The Olympus E-100RS is one of the first
such, and boy, is it impressive!... Overall an amazing camera: If you
need to shoot fast-moving action, this is definitely the digicam to have!"

Are
the best selling items online this holiday according to price.com. The
top products are Nikon's Coolpix 880, the Palm Pilot IIIxe and Plextor
CD-RW drive. These were selected by being the top searched for items on
price.com's site. The holiday season is defined as November 25 - December
21.

At
almost the same time as us digitalkamera.de posted their review of Olympus's
E-10, here's what they concluded, "The Olympus Camedia E-10 will
without a doubt fulfil the demands of the semi-professionals, yes, and
even the professionals. For about 2,250 EUR the camera offers almost everything
that one could hope for in this price class, except the removable lens...
But the E-10 is not exactly cheap either at a price of 2,250 EUR, and
fully equipped with accessories the price can easily be doubled."

Finally!
(I can hear some of you sigh). Yes, it's been delayed, interrupted and
postponed several times but we can finally bring you our full in-depth
review of Olympus's interest (and in many respects, excellent) E-10. When
this metal clad digital SLR first broke onto the digital photography scene
it certainly stirred up a lot of interest, since then many lucky people
in the US managed to get their hands on production E-10's even before
us.. and started to report a few funny problems. Want the full low-down?
Read the review...

Sony
have released the specifications of their ICX282 5 megapixel CDD that
we posted back in November. As we said then "The ICX282 is the latest
in a series of CCD sensors and is the direct progression from the ICX252
seen in many of this years 3 megapixel digital cameras. A leap in resolution
and more interestingly the sensor's size has increased to 2/3" (11
mm diagonally), thus unit size (pixel size) is almost the same (3.4µm
vs. 3.45µm)."

David
at The Imaging Resource has just posted his reviews of the Toshiba PDR-M60,
and the Ricoh RDC-6000, here's what he says about them. Firstly the Toshiba
"Toshiba has been making progressive inroads in the digicam field for
some time now, and now have a nice entry-level 2 megapixel model (with 2.3x
optical zoom lens) in the form of their PDR-M60.... All in all, a pretty
nice package" and the Ricoh "This model is designed to sell for
less than the PDR-M60 we posted on the 12th, but also lacks an optical zoom
lens. It does offer some interesting capabilities though, including a time-lapse
photography option, and the ability to function as a web cam."

The
monthly bilingual webzine Megapixel.Net have released their January edition
(in French and English), this month they've reviewed the Sony DSC-P1,
Canon Powershot G1, Casio QV-2300UX, Toshiba PDR-M60. They also have articles
about macro photography, time and date stamping and useful gadgets when
travelling with your digicam.

Start
the year off with a new Digital Camera. Once again DPReview and State
Street Direct (our official affiliate) are working hard to get the best
deals for our readers. State Street Direct, is offering 5% off on any
in-stock digital camera (online orders only) now through Sunday night
midnight (Jan. 14th, EST). This offer is only available by clicking on
a special link in this news article.

The
success of the DCS 620x tolled the death knell for the DCS 620 (which
has now been discontinued), buyers simply couldn't see the reason to go
for it over the super-sensitive DCS 620x. In the wake of that news comes
new camera, printer and imaging software bundles from Kodak Professional.
The printer included in these bundles is Kodak's Professional 8660 Thermal.

Mac
World 2001: In a major re-vamp of their film scanner range for 2001, Nikon
today introduced no less than three new film scanners. The Super Coolscan
4000 ED for 35mm at 14-bits per channel, 4000 dpi (can be fitted with
a roll auto-feeder). The Super Coolscan 8000 ED multi-format at
14-bits per channel, 4000 dpi and the entry level Coolscan IV ED
at 12-bits per channel, 2900 dpi. We have exclusive specifications and
images of the new scanners!

EETimes
report that UMC in partnership with Photobit Corp said it has readied
a special CMOS image sensor process that will enable pixel sizes as low
as 3 microns and resolutions of more than 5 megapixels. UMC said it will
start accepting image sensor designs in the first quarter and predicts
products based on the technology could be on the shelves at the end of
the year.

Sorry to all our readers, earlier today we were offline for around six
hours, this is our worst outage in the last 12 months. The problem was
a dead router at our hosting provider (dn.net) which brought down several
server connections (not just ours). Good news is they've now fixed the
problem and we're steaming ahead again... So get in and read that Pro90
review if you haven't yet!

CES
2001: JVC has announced two new digital cameras, the GC-QX5HD an GC-QX3HD.
The difference between the two cameras isn't at first apparent apart from
the 5HD coming with 16MB SmartMedia (vs. 8MB of the 3HD), a supplied film
copier with the 5HD and a 6 megapixel interpolation mode. One interesting
feature of both cameras is HDTV output (1080 interlaced lines) for display
on high resolution TV monitors.

CES
2001: The Ultra-Pocket credit card sized digital camera from SMaL Camera
Technologies is just 6 mm thick, it can take VGA (640 x 480) images and
can be connected to a PC via a USB cable. Other features include a viewfinder,
rechargeable battery, 35mm (equiv.) F2.0 fixed lens, and MMC card storage
(8 MB supplied). Oh, and it weighs just 63 g (2 oz).

Another dpreview.com exclusive! A full in-depth review of a production Canon Pro90 IS. We've had this camera since before Christmas and have been busily preparing this review to coincide with the cameras announcement today. Canon's flagship PowerShot has a 10x optical stabilised lens, 2.6 megapixel resolution and a TTL electronic viewfinder.. but how does it measure up in real life?

CES
2001: Today, Canon announce the sucessor to their ever popular Pro 70,
the all new Pro90 IS, featuring the previously announced 10x optical stabilised
lens, 2.6 megapixels of resolution and an electronic TTL viewfinder the
Pro90 is a feature packed and attractive offering. We have the pictures,
press release and specifications.

CES
2001: Here's a piece of news we published back on the 21st November, Olympus
America today announced the C-3040Z and C-2040Z, if you're a regular reader
of the site you'll already know just about all there is to know but here's
the official US press release for your perusal.

Sony
today (in time for CES 2001) announced a new prototype "InfoStick
module" (same form factor and connectors as memory stick) which provides
a Bluetooth communications module for compatible hardware. In theory (in
future digital cameras) a module such as this would allow your camera
to communicate directly with (say) a digital wallet type device carried
on your belt, your mobile phone or even a pair of Bluetooth video goggles,
the possibilties are endless...

The
guys over at digitalkamera.de have notched up an exclusive, they've managed
to get their hands on a new 128 MB SmartMedia card (official launch planned
for the middle of this year) and have tested various cameras with the
new card, the results are surprisingly positive... "As you can see
from the list, most of the digital cameras which already operated without
any problems with 64-MByte removable memory cards, are also compatible
with the new 128-MByte memory cards."

Viking
Components, manufacturer of memory, storage and miniture I/O devices have
today announced the addition of MultiMediaCards (flash storage cards about
half the size of SmartMedia) to their product range. Pre-empting the requirement
for MultiMediaCards Viking will be initially producing 16, 32 and 64 MB
MMC cards.

Those
observant amongst you will have noticed that we number our news articles
using a yymmddnn format, so today's first news article is kind of unique...
Wishing ALL our readers all around the world the very best for 2001, have
a great time whatever you're doing! For Digital Photography 2001 is going
to be even more incredible than 2000...